Easter

Cousins at play.

I hope everyone had a good Easter.

We had the joy of visiting family to share a wonderful dinner with. Brea has really enjoyed her time with her cousins and Auntie and Uncle. Nana and Grumpa were on hand as well and it was a scrumptious feast. Craig made a fabulous ham, Grumpa told us of a great recipe for turkey, and Auntie Signe brought a yummy pie!

Brea was super spoiled for Easter. She got such lovely presents from Mexico - including a beautiful dress and a cute beaded box and bracelet.

Brea in her lovely Mexican dress chosen by Grumpa.

A colourful beaded box for special treasures.

Thank-you everyone for making it such a great get-together :o)

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Brea has finally made the big roll from back to tummy!!! It has been in development this past week and this weekend, she did it! We had previously attempted to tempt her with toys, etc. to see if she would try to grab them and roll herself but to no avail. Apparently, the trick was to use her mittens! Every morning, Brea has a snuggle with me in bed and I pull off her mittens (she still rubs and scratches her eyest) and I put them up near the top of the bed. Her eyes always follow me when I do this. On Friday morning, she decided that looking at them wasn't enough, she wanted her mittens! So, she reached and reached and rolled over with her prize firmily in her grasp. The next day, she did it again. Daddy was very proud of his little girl. I was super proud too... until last night...

Brea has been fighting a nasty cold this past weekend and has been back in her bouncy chair (she can't breathe at all lying down). Last night, she woke up and I figured it was because she was all plugged up. I tried to hold her and pat her back and walk a bit but nothing was working. Finally, not knowing what else to really do with grumpy baby, I put her on the bed. That's when she started rolling! For half an hour, all Brea did was roll, from one end of the bed to the other. She just REALLY wanted to practice her new skill. I was tired and REALLY wanted her to go back to sleep. Sigh. What's going to happen when she starts crawling?!

Cousins

Brea's sun-kissed cousins just came back from their time in Mexico and stopped for a visit this past weekend. It's been a while since we've had the chance to see the brood and Brea had not seen her cousins since she was born. She was in a bit of shock at the beginning I think of their endless energy but Madison quickly won her over. Here's a few pictures of the afternoon:

Playdate!

It's playtime!!!

Last Friday, Brea spent a fun-filled afternoon visiting with her friends Susanna and Max! Big sis, Joelle was there as well to make sure all the little kids had their hands full of toys :o) Mama Lynda prepared a scrumptious lunch for the grown-ups and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

The girls sharing a giggle.

Susanna is one fab babe right on her way to crawling, I couldn't believe how strong she was pushing up on her legs and arms! Max was super cute sitting between the two girls and though he powered out for a short nap, Mama Kathy made sure he was the darling of the party with a crazy elephant hat :o)


Brea meanwhile was in awe of Susanna's many toys and of Big Sister Joelle who endlessly supplied them within arms reach - Brea certainly made use of her sitting skills by leaning forward and pulling many of the toys away from the other babes (she was a bit of a horder).

Joelle was so great with the babes!

Thanks for a wonderful visit!

Show me those pearly whites!!!

Chewing away on her soothie, that's what she does with them now.

Just wanted a chance to show her cute cheeks!

So this morning I was feeding Brea when she chomped down on me. Normally it pinches a bit but today it kinda stung. I looked inside her mouth and what is that peeping out from her gums? Her two bottom teeth are breaking through!!! No wonder she's gnawing on everything :o)

Wordless Wednesday

There's just something about a baby gnawing on a rat.

Passport!

Last week we went to get Brea's passport photo taken. We are thinking of perhaps traveling a little bit this summer, maybe into the States and thought it would be prudent to get a passport for Brea. At the very least it will be a good ID for her. It is the cutest picture ever! The photographer at Regal Photography did an awesome job. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to scan it before submitting the application so you'll just have to wait until I get the passport in the mail. Passport Canada is so quick now that the crazy deadlines from before have calmed down. We were in and out in a half an hour! Yay!

We had Brea's 7 month check-up last week - she's happy and healthy and her new stats are as follows:
Height: 72.5 cm/28.5 in
Weight: 8.6 kg/19 lbs

She is really starting to lengthen out and is now into her 12 month clothes!

Things are getting back to normal... Brea misses spending the whole day with Daddy but we are getting back into visiting friends and keeping busy with baby activities. I've been super happy with how things are going with solids and have been making plenty of food stuff to freeze for Brea. She is still focused on two meals a day with a lunch time snack but is slowly starting to eat more. She much prefers Craig to feed her, maybe he makes better yummy faces :o) Last night, Craig made a beef stew for Brea which I am pureeing today. We got the recipe out of "The Baby's Table" - recommended by the wonderful Mama Lynda.


It has some really great stuff. Craig looked through it too and remarked on how tasty many of the recipes sounded until the directions say to "put into blender/food processor and puree".